Boris Johnson has refused to apologise about negative campaigning by the Conservative party, saying that people should stop being so "namby pamby" about political attacks. On a day that the Mayor of London was unleashed to try to woo back UKIP voters, he told Sky News that he could not understand when Britain had become so unable to cope with the ferocity of the campaign trail. "I had someone saying to me that Nicola Sturgeon was deeply offended because I said putting the SNP in charge of running England is like putting Herod in charge of a baby farm. As well as walkabouts in London, the Mayor travelled to Ramsgate, in Kent, to try to win over voters who may be considering backing the UKIP leader Nigel Farage. More »

London Mayor Boris Johnson stole the show at Britain's Conservative party conference Tuesday with a joke-laden speech that included a brick as a prop, confirming his status in the eyes of many as a possible future leader with the popular touch. More »

Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, has been selected from a shortlist of four to contest the Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat for the Conservative Party at the 2015 General Election and add fuel to the constant speculation that his long-term goal is to become Prime Minister. For one thing he will be standing in the constituency despite having few local connections – and having made clear his wishes to promote "Boris Island", which would have led to the loss of thousands of local jobs at Heathrow. Johnson's decision to stand for Parliament drew criticism from Labour's shadow minister for London, Sadiq Khan: "When Boris Johnson should be fixing London's desperate housing crisis, he will instead be spending the next two years campaigning to be an MP and Tory Leader." Johnson has shrugged off the criticism, referring to Labour's Ken Livingstone, who combined being Mayor of London with representing Brent East as an MP in 2000-2001: "It has been done before and I see no reason why it shouldn't be done again." More »

Mayor of London Boris Johnson plans to run for election to government in November 2015 and also to stand down from the mayoralty when his term ends in May 2016, the great question is – who will fill his shoes as head of Britain's number one city? If elected to a seat in the Commons next year, Boris plans to serve as both Mayor and an MP for a year, following in the footsteps of his predecessor Ken Livingstone who remained in Parliament for a year after winning the inaugural Mayoral contest in 2000. The Labour candidate is unlikely to be Ken Livingstone this time around, however. The party's politics in London have been dominated by Livingstone for a generation. More »

Mahatma Gandhi, the civil rights leader who led India to freedom from British rule, is to be celebrated with a statue in Parliament Square, the Chancellor has announced. The spiritual leader will stand alongside former South African president Nelson Mandela and the wartime leader Winston Churchill, who once called him a "half-naked fakir". Announcing the tribute during a trip to India to help improve relations between the countries, George Osborne said: "As the father of the largest democracy in the world, it's time for Gandhi to take his place in front of the mother of parliaments. "He is a figure of inspiration, not just in Britain and India, but around the world. More »

The Office of Tony Blair has responded to a call for him to be sacked as Middle East peace envoy by claiming that it has been made by "an alliance of hard right and hard left views". Given that Ken Livingstone and George Galloway are amongst those demanding his head it is neither surprising nor unfair of Mr Blair to point out that these are the usual suspects. Mr Blair has been Middle East peace envoy for seven years. Is the Middle East a safer and more peaceful place as a result of his seven years in the role? More »

The Labour MP for Edgbaston, Birmingham Gisela Stuart has called the devolution of England as cities across the UK, like her constituency, risks bankruptcy due to the lack of control over taxation and revenue. Speaking at the Cities 2030 forum in London, Labour and Conservative politicians aligned in agreeing that decision-making should be decentralised, with local MPs, mayors and council members given more political room for manoeuvre. The Labour MP for Edgbaston, Birmingham Gisela Stuart said that with no power to move council tax boundaries or seek independent streams of revenue, Birmingham will be bankrupt in 16 months. She suggested that cities be permitted to keep a portion of VAT or to charge a local property tax, the proceeds of which would stay in the city kitty. More »

London has offered Ed Miliband a ray of much-needed sunshine amid the gloom of the Ukip election surge, handing Labour some key gains and appearing immune to Nigel Farage's charms. While Ukip denied the opposition the sort of national mid-term breakthrough it needs to feel secure about its 2015 election strategy, the capital bucked the trend and turned red. Labour seized some key Tory councils including Croydon, where Tony Benn's granddaughter Emily was elected, and the jewel of Hammersmith and Fulham, branded David Cameron's favourite council and seen as a surprise victory for Miliband. There were claims that local issues played a key part in Hammersmith, while Croydon Tories claimed votes for Ukip had handed the result to Labour. More »

Ed Miliband has taken a lot of flak over the latest election broadcast depicting the Tories as a bunch of 1950s toffs who treat Nick Clegg as their intellectually-challenged fag. Former Liberal leader David Steel has never forgiven the programme for showing him as a very small, downtrodden figure popping up from the top pocket of his colleague, SDP leader David Owen, to complain at his harsh treatment. More »

Machiavelli's advice to "keep your friends close and your enemies closer" has become a political cliché for the very good reason that it is just the best possible approach to someone like, for example, Boris Johnson. And David Cameron has followed this centuries-old tenet to the letter by declaring he wants the London mayor back in the Commons as soon as possible, and certainly in time for the next general election. Although it is pointed out his predecessor Ken Livingstone did both jobs for a while and there is no rule banning it. But, thanks to Cameron's latest intervention, that is becoming an increasingly untenable position. More »

The general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, Bob Crow, has died at the age of 52 after suffering a suspected heart attack. Mr Crow was taken to hospital after reportedly complaining of feeling unwell on Monday but died in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Mayor of London Boris Johnson, who regularly sparred with Mr Crow, said he was a "fighter and a man of character". :: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202. More »

Bob Crow was short of hair, but not of principles - and his beliefs made him a colourful character in the drab world of industrial relations and politics. Crow was a confirmed communist - with all that entailed - who said he owed his career to Margaret Thatcher, a PM not known as a friend of the unions. Tributes flowed from across the political spectrum at news of his death from a heart attack in east London. As a militant trade union we demand a standard of living for our members that enables them to share in the fine wines and fine times that the likes of David Cameron and his Old Etonian mates take for granted." More »

Depending which politician you asked, Bob Crow was either the last of the old-style socialist trade union dinosaurs or a working class hero who defended his members to the last. Recently, when quizzed over his beach holiday in Brazil just days before his union brought London Underground to a halt, he told TV interviewer Andrew Neil, no soft touch himself: "If I had your wages I'd be going to Rio twice a year." More »

More women in the UK are being forced on the streets because of public service cuts and welfare restrictions, a charity report has revealed. The authors blame cuts to public services, changes in welfare benefits and increased unemployment. Davina James-Hanman, a former domestic violence strategy adviser to Ken Livingstone when he was mayor of London, said: "No local authority wants to be [seen as] particularly good at dealing with women with complicated needs because other women with complicated needs will come to live there as well." More »